Archive

Lots of interesting hockey news today, so we’ll go old school link-and-comment style a little further down the page.

First, an update from practice today. I thought the practice schedule written on the wipe board in the locker room today was pretty appropriate — 9:30: team meeting. 9:35: PK meeting.

Yeah, about that penalty kill. In their last six games, the Penguins are 12-for-20 on the PK, which has dropped them all the way down to 20th in the league. About a month ago, on the other hand, the Penguins went 30-for-30 on the PK over six games from Oct. 15-30. Same personnel. Same X’s and O’s. Wildly different results. Weird how that works, isn’t it?

Also worth noting: Pittsburgh is first in the NHL on the PK using very similar X’s and O’s.

Talked to Ryan Craig, Robert Bortuzzo and both coaches about the topic after practice. Felt a little weird asking critical questions of a 17-4 team, but hey, facts are facts. And I was getting bored asking happy-face questions all the time anyway.

Also, Chris Collins skated today and is targeting this weekend for his return to the lineup.

One other thing: There’s an open skate from 6 to 9 tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena to benefit Toys for Tots. Cost of admission is $5 or a new unwrapped toy. It’s the only open skate at the arena all year.

OK, elsewhere:

– Interesting transaction in Atlanta, where the Thrashers signed Tim Stapleton. This has all kinds of implications. First, it’s a big blow to San Antonio, where Stapleton was playing on an AHL deal. They’re off to a great start. Second, it could end up helping the Chicago Wolves significantly, once the Thrashers get healthy. Despite having Krog and Haydar, they’re not off to a good start. Third, according to capgeek.com, the deal is a two-way this year and a one-way next year. Finally, it’s a bit of kick in the pants to Chicago forwards like Jared Ross and Andre Deveaux, who were passed over for promotion.

– Looks like the bloom is officially off the rose for one-time top prospect Brian Lee with the Senators. He’s on waivers. The thing I’ve never understood about Lee is why no one calls him Prime Time. I would.

– A familiar face is expected to start in net for Adirondack at WBS on Saturday. Michael Leighton on a rehab assignment. He was a bit of a playoff hero for Philly last season. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few more orange jerseys in the crowd at the arena Saturday night as a result.

– Washington traded Tomas Fleischmann to Colorado for Scott Hannan. It’s a nice pickup for the Caps because Hannan is exactly the kind of guy they need in the playoffs. I’ve always been intrigued by Fleischmann. He’s got awesome puck skills. He just hasn’t been able to put it together consistently.

– Looks like the natural gas billionaire who is bankrolling Penn State’s entry into the world of Division I hockey is also buying the Buffalo Sabres. This guy is really rich and really likes hockey. You know what he needs? A personal hockey beat writer. Hint hint.

NeuLion was down today, therefore all I’ve got is a basic summary of a 4-2 WBS win over Springfield today.

After a goal by Ryan Craig and two by Springfield’s Tomas Kubalik, the Penguins trailed 2-1 late in the third period.

Then, with 5:12 left, Craig took a puck to the net and Nick Johnson scored to make it 2-2. Twenty-nine seconds later, Dustin Jeffrey netted the game winner. Bryan Lerg added an empty netter and the Penguins went 5-2 during a stretch of seven games in 10 days to improve to 17-4 for the season.

It was an important game for Johnson, who looked awfully rusty his first three games back in the lineup after missing four games earlier this month with a minor injury.

It was another brilliant game for Jeffrey, who has moved into a tie for third in the AHL scoring race with 25 points.

The first thing you have to take away from WBS’s 4-3 win over Rochester tonight is that Dustin Jeffrey has become a full-fledged star in this league.

In a game that was suddenly tied 3-3, Jeffrey drove down the right wing, stickhandled through and around the Rochester defense, and made a brilliant pass to set up Geoff Walker driving down the slot for the game-winning goal in the third period.

Jeffrey has 10 points in his last seven games to move into a tie for fifth in the AHL scoring race. I can’t overstate how smooth and poised with the puck he’s been lately. All season, really.

Beyond that, it was a bit of a strange game for the Penguins. They dominated 5-on-5, outshot Rochester 40-22 and scored three goals in less than seven minutes in the first period to make it look like a blowout was in order.

Play-by-play for the three goals is as follows: Jeffrey knocked a puck in out of a scrum at 4:44, Jesse Boulerice scored from Joey Haddad and Zach Sill as the fourth line contributed another goal at 9:45, and Eric Tangradi tipped in a Robert Bortuzzo shot from the half-wall at 10:52.

But Rochester clawed its way back into the game, thanks in large part to the few dangerous AHL players still left on the roster.

See, Michael Repik and Bill Thomas are up with Florida. Michael Nylander is out for the year. Michael Duco and Triston Grant are hurt. Andrew Peters and Nathan Paetsch got shown the door for some sort of disciplinary violation.

But Clay Wilson’s still there. Kendall McArdle and Chris Taylor too.

Wilson, an all-star defenseman, clanked a power-play point shot in off the post late in the first period. McArdle, a pretty decent prospect, tipped in a point shot early in the second. Taylor, a talented veteran, made a beautiful cross-ice saucer pass to set up Mike Kostka for a PPG late in the second.

There’s two ways you can look at that. You can either applaud Rochester because it’s a good thing when your best players are your best players, or you can boo the Penguins because they only had, like, three players to worry about and those three combined for two goals and five points.

Take your pick.

Couple other notes from tonight:

– Rookie Eric Selleck earned some respect by fighting Boulerice in the second period. Selleck angered the Penguins by laying out Boulerice and Bortuzzo with hard hits in the last meeting between the teams. This time, Selleck answered the bell. He ate a big right hand, but he got right up and looked none the worse for wear. Good for him. That’s how you earn your stripes as a pro.

– Here’s coach John Hynes’ update on Chris Collins, who was scratched tonight after getting banged up a couple times in Binghamton on Thanksgiving: “Collins will be OK, but he’s not going to play this weekend.”

Not a lot of information there, except now we know his condition isn’t fatal.

– Good crowd of 7,845. Most of them stayed to the end too.

– Finally, the best news of the evening: Jeff Smith’s got the orange armband as the Penguins visit Springfield tomorrow afternoon. This Jamie Koharski mess was a little tough to watch tonight.

About a quarter of the way in, it looks like the Binghamton Senators might be playing the role of the Hershey Bears this season as far as the WBS Penguins are concerned.

Binghamton hung a 5-2 loss on the Penguins tonight at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena tonight. In four meetings this season, they’ve outscored the Penguins 12-6. Goalie Barry Brust is 2-0-1 with a 1.33 GAA and .967 save percentage against them.

The Penguins have allowed more than four goals twice this season, and both times it was to Binghamton.

Those numbers are starting to look a little like the WBS numbers against Hershey last year.

Binghamton took the game by the throat with three unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period, but I could make a case that the Penguins lost it in two stretches earlier in the game.

The Penguins outshot Binghamton 7-0 in the first six minutes but scored just once, when Eric Tangradi tipped in a Brett Sterling shot.

The Penguins then outshot Binghamton 20-5 in the first 11 minutes of the second period but again scored just once when Sterling slam-dunked a cross-crease pass from Tim Wallace on a 5-on-3 power play.

The Penguins had heaping helpings of momentum on their side during those stretches and didn’t put any distance between themselves and the B-Sens.

Also, the Penguins gave up two power-play goals, another goal one second after a power play ended and a shorthanded goal. Tough to win with special teams play like that.

The Penguins are back to action Saturday night at home against Rochester and you might not want to miss that one. I hear there are still some bad feelings in the Penguins locker room after the previous meeting between the teams when Amerks rookie Eric Selleck laid a couple of hits on Jesse Boulerice and Robert Bortuzzo. That doesn’t mean an old-fashioned, grudge-match type of game is imminent, but it’s definitely a possibility.

Every year, we do things a little differently here on the blog on Thanksgiving Eve.

Because there are usually lots of advertising inserts in the Thanksgiving Day paper, we have early deadlines the night before. The story you will see in Thursday’s paper was actually sent the moment the final horn sounded tonight. No time to head to the locker room for quotes. All business.

Therefore, the post-game blog post is more in depth than usual and has lots of quotes, so you can see what key players had to say after the game.

The key players in this case, after a 3-0 Penguins win over Albany, are Dustin Jeffrey and John Curry.

Jeffrey continued his superb play with a goal and an assist, both on special teams in the first period.

First, on a power play, he picked up a puck on the goal line to the left of goalie Jeff Frazee and centered a pass intended for Eric Tangradi skating in toward the near post. An Albany defender lifted Tangradi’s stick, however, and the puck slid all the way through to Andrew Hutchinson in the left circle.

Because Frazee was anticipating a shot from Tangradi, Hutchinson had an empty net to shoot on and he didn’t miss. Funny thing, though, is that Brett Sterling actually tipped the puck on its way to the empty net, so expect the goal to read Sterling 7 (Hutchinson, Jeffrey) after a tape is sent to the AHL for review.

Two things about this goal:

1. The Penguins went on the power play when Nick Palmieri was called for hooking just 40 seconds into the game. During the Cozzan-Smith whistle-swallowing dream officiating of last weekend, the Penguins had to kill five penalties in three whole games. With the two-ref system in place tonight, they had to kill five in this game alone.

CURRY: “We knew going in there were going to be two refs and coming off of those games last weekend, we knew it was going to be a different type of game. We saw it right in the first period. We were able to adjust and limit the stick penalties and offensive zone penalties. They have a good power play too. We were able to get away with it early.”

2. If you’re only going to score one PPG in a game, it’s probably best to do it in the first two minutes.

JEFFREY: “Obviously you want to have good percentages and all that stuff, but timing is the biggest thing on special teams.”

Jeffrey’s second goal came shorthanded later in the period. Ryan Craig picked off a pass and sent a puck between two defenders to spring Jeffrey for a breakaway. He beat Frazee high blocker.

Jeffrey has moved within seven points of Corey Locke’s league scoring lead. After going scoreless the first two games of the year, he has 20 points (7-13) in his last 16 games.

CURRY: “I don’t know what he’s eating, but I want it.”

Curry, meanwhile, made 29 saves to earn his first shutout of the year.

This is significant because of the way his season has gone. He won his first four starts and looked like he was back on track after a subpar season. Then he lost two in a row and looked like he was slipping again. Now he’s stopped that slide with back-to-back wins.

CURRY: “You get that familiar feeling and you don’t want it and you know what to do to correct it. You spent all summer thinking about what you’d do in the same situation. It’s getting back to simplifying everything, getting back to basics, going out and working hard instead of worrying about things you can’t control.”

Isn’t it funny that the Penguins are in a place where a goalie dropping two games in a row counts as a losing streak?

CURRY: “I felt like I was in the doghouse for a while and we were still rolling. It’s a good problem to have.”

Along the same lines, the Penguins have now won two in a row after dropping three straight at the arena earlier this month.

COACH JOHN HYNES: “After the Norfolk game, we kind of analyzed that game and said overall, we didn’t really get outplayed. It was just the little greasy areas of the game that we were doing on the road and not doing at home. We just made an effort to clean those up.”

Finally, Hynes channels his inner Dan Bylsma to sum this one up.

HYNES: “We really wanted to get to our game. Even over the weekend, we felt we played well in spurts but we hadn’t put a 60-minute game together and played to our team identity. I think we did a pretty good job of that.”

I’ve been seeing these ads for the new Russell Crowe movie. The idea, I gather, is that he’s trying to break out of a prison in Pittsburgh and he has to blend in with a crowd while he completes his escape. Except he wears a Pirates jacket. You wouldn’t blend in in Pittsburgh wearing a Pirates jacket. Everyone would be like, “Hey, did you see that guy in the Pirates jacket? What’s his problem?”

Two topics of conversation after practice today:

1. With Albany coming in tomorrow, I asked Jesse Boulerice if he’ll have to warn rookies and guys from the Western Conference about Louis Robitaille’s antics before the game.

2. The Penguins are playing in the annual Thanksgiving game at Binghamton on Thursday night. Do they appreciate the tradition of the game or would they, all things considered, rather be home eating turkey?

Tune in to tomorrow’s paper for their response. What’s yours?

I also asked a couple guys if there’s a story they teach kids in Canada about Canadian Thanksgiving. You know, like we teach kids about the pilgrims and Indians? Zach Sill and Joey Mormina couldn’t think of one. They said it’s not a big holiday back home. Anyone out there know any good Canadian Thanksgiving fables? You could make one up. I wouldn’t know the difference.

Along those same lines, Tom Grace said today that if he were president, he would make the Monday after the Super Bowl a federal holiday. I would endorse his candidacy.

Along completely different lines, Nick Johnson practiced again today and coach John Hynes said he is expected to play tomorrow.

It was a grinder’s holiday here at the Mohegan Sun Arena as the WBS Pens ended a three-game home losing streak with a 2-1 win over Binghamton.

Fourth-line forwards Zach Sill and Jesse Boulerice teamed up to score both Penguins goals. Not a lot of pretty play from either team. Not a lot of special teams. Grind it out in the back end of a three in three.

(Incidentally, I saw Jeff Smith on his way out of the building and considered asking for his autograph. It says “no autographs” on the back of the press pass, but I didn’t know if that applies to refs. Ultimately, I decided against it.)

When the Penguins need to stop a losing streak — i.e. in the game after their three losses this season plus tonight, because it was after a three-game home skid — they really buckle it down defensively. The scores in those four games have been 2-1, 2-0, 4-3 and 2-1.

I have to apologize to Brad Thiessen and maybe Geoff Kinrade for my three stars selections. I went with Boulerice, Sill and Chris Collins. I like it when the three stars have a theme, and when you can vote for all three guys on a line, I usually do it.

Here’s an interesting stat: The Penguins have scored a grand total of 4 goals in 3 games against Binghamton, yet they’re 2-1 in those games anyway — a 2-1 regulation win, a 2-1 shootout win and a 5-1 loss.

You want some goal details? OK, here are some goal details. Boulerice dive-bombed Derek Smith on the forecheck and deflected a puck out to Sill in front for the Pens first goal in the first period. Boulerice gathered a loose puck between the circles and scored on a turnaround slide piece inside the right post late in the second.

One other thing I wanted to mention: Redemption for the penalty killers. After letting Hershey score on all three of its power plays last night, the Penguins had to kill a Steve Wagner interference minor in a 2-1 game in the final five minutes of the third period against the league’s fourth-ranked PP. They didn’t allow a shot.

A John Hynes quote on that: “PK guys have a lot of pride. They’ve been one of the best parts of our game and last night, we had a little slip-up. That was a game-changing kill. They did a good job. That’s why they’ve been good all year. They’ve been able to ante up when the game’s on the line.”

Day off tomorrow, then practice Tuesday in preparation for a Thanksgiving week four-in-five.

Three things stick out from the WBS Penguins’ 4-3 win in Hershey tonight.

– Early in the game, I was struck by how the Penguins have reacted to their three losses this season. They really make a concerted effort to buckle things down defensively.

After the first loss, they won 2-1 at Rochester the next night with Ryan Craig netting the game-winner in the final two minutes. After the second loss, they won 2-0 in Worcester behind 38 saves from Brad Thiessen. Tonight, I could count the 5-on-5 scoring chances Hershey had on one hand. It wasn’t a Grade-A Bears lineup — Keith Aucoin (knee) being the most notable absence — but that’s still a pretty good accomplishment.

– The penalty kill was another story. Hershey got three power plays and scored on all of them. Here’s how long it took them to score — four seconds, eight seconds and 77 seconds. And that’s without Aucoin.

Penguins Insiders’ favorite ref, Jeff Smith, worked the game tonight, and as you know, someone better be bleeding for him to call a penalty. If Penguins Insiders’ least-favorite ref, Nygel Pelletier, had been calling this game, Hershey would have won 11-4.

– For two years, nearly every time the Penguins came to the Giant Center, they spent a good portion of the night fishing their mistakes out of the back of their net. Tonight, it was 180 degrees different.

When Brett Sterling forced Sean Collins into a turnover in the right-wing corner, Sterling fed Keven Veilleux racing down the slot and Veilleux posterized Semyon Varlamov by stickhandling around an attempted poke-check and backhanding the puck into an empty net.

When Dmitri Kugryshev screened Varlamov a few minutes later, Brian Strait scored on a simple wrister from the top of the left circle.

When a Lawrence Nycholat clearing bid from behind his own net pinballed out into the slot later in the third period, Dustin Jeffrey buried it under the crossbar.

That kind of vicious opportunism is a big reason why Hershey has won the last two Calder Cups. It will serve the Penguins well as the season rolls on.

The WBS Penguins lost their third straight home game tonight, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Norfolk Admirals. They’ve been outscored 12-2 in their last seven periods at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Over the last seven periods on the road, on the other hand, the Penguins have outscored their opponents 7-1 and the only goal they’ve surrendered was on a 5-on-3 power play.

If you’re looking for an explanation for that, you’ve come to the wrong place. I can’t for the life of me figure out why a team that’s 8-0 on the road has been so bad the last couple of games at home.

The best stab I can take at it is this: Coach John Hynes said the Penguins have lost their last three home games because they’ve been outplayed in the hard areas of the ice — in front of the net and along the boards. Maybe the road-game mentality forces the Penguins to play better in those areas.

That’s the best I’ve got.

The Penguins looked great in the first five minutes, taking a 6-1 shots advantage before Tim Wallace scored a power-play goal at the 5:39 mark.

After that, it was pretty much all Norfolk.

Chris Durno scored on a rebound after a defensive-zone turnover late in the first period. Blair Jones tipped in a pair of point shots in the second.

Eric Tangradi had three great scoring chances that he couldn’t convert on. He said it was one of the most frustrating games of his career. “Three Grade A chances that were inexcusable to miss,” he said. “One you could get over. Two or three, that could have changed the game.”

It apparently is no consolaton to Tangradi, but Norfolk goalie Cedrick Desjardins did play a hell of a game, especially in the third period.

Hynes had an interesting comment about that that I wasn’t able to work into the gamer. I think it’s interesting because you rarely hear coaches criticize their team for not finishing chances. They usually take the as-long-as-we’re-getting-chances-we’ll-be-fine-eventually approach.

“We have to do a better job with our opportunities,” Hynes said. “We have to get more traffic to the net, we have to have stronger sticks on rebounds and we gotta pick corners better. We left a lot of chances laying there. He played well. The Norfolk goalie played well. Credit to him, but I also think that we, at times, passed on opportunities when we could shoot and when we had opportunities to have strong sticks, we didn’t get them.”

Something else that struck me about the last two home games: I wrote a story a couple of Sundays ago about how the Penguins weren’t anywhere near their fighting-major pace from a year ago, when they led the league with 99 fights. I thought that was just an interesting stat, of little consequence to wins and losses, until now.

After Norfolk went up 2-1 in the first minute of the second period, the situation begged for a fight. The crowd was looking for something to cheer for. The momentum was swinging in Norfolk’s favor. It didn’t happen.

Same thing in the Binghamton game last weekend. The Penguins were down 3-1 in the second period and Zach Sill had a shift where he threw a couple of hits and the crowd was starting to get in the game. Momentum was up for grabs. No rough stuff.

These are the situations where WBS really misses Deryk Engelland. Over the last couple seasons, no player has done a better job of reading the situation and realizing when a fight is called for better than Engelland.

Two final notes before I go:
– Tampa GM Steve Yzerman was in the building tonight. Pretty cool seeing an all-time great like that at the arena.

– I thought the Pleasant Valley Middle School Chorus did an awesome job with the national anthem. I think there’s a trick to showing off your singing skills while still respecting the integrity of the anthem, and they did that perfectly. I dug their original song in the second intermission too.

Brett Sterling and Nick Johnson skated at practice today. Coach John Hynes said Sterling could play against Norfolk tomorrow if things go well at morning skate. Johnson was held out of contact, so he’s not quite ready to return to the lineup, but he’s not too far off.

The team’s schedule this week — road game Tuesday, off day Wednesday — has compressed my schedule a bit, so I have a lot of writing to do tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Here is a preview of some of the stuff I’m working on.

– One theme that I’ve hit on repeatedly during the Penguins’ strong start is how they’ve been doing it without a top 50 or top 20 scorer in the league. That stat is now pretty much dead, thanks to Dustin Jeffrey. Frankly, I wanted to talk to him for a little while after practice today because I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be around. A promotion, one would think, has to be in order. He’s been that good.

– You know how you sometimes hear hockey commentators and their ilk talking about a “hot goalie” like it’s an unstoppable force of nature. You usually hear it in the playoffs, like with Jaroslav Halak last spring. You might hear it now with the 8-0 start Brad Thiessen is off to. I talked to Thiessen, Hynes and John Curry about the phenomenon, what it entails and what the term means to them.

– In a column for Sunday’s paper, I’ll take a look at one aspect of the roster that was the same for the three Penguins teams that went to Calder Cup finals as the team on the ice this year. It involves homegrown prospects in their third pro seasons.

– Eric Tangradi is the subject of this week’s Name Dropping Q-and-A feature. It’s a good one because he really is an incredible interview. I don’t know if I’ve ever covered a young guy who understands the whole talking-to-the-media dynamic of being a professional athlete so completely.

Speaking of good talkers and bad talkers, check out this Q-and-A Empty Netters did with the members of Pittsburgh’s new third line — Chris Conner, Mark Letestu and Tyler Kennedy. I was particularly intrigued by this response Letestu gave when he was asked if he’s the “slow guy” on the line, compared to his speedy wingers.

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

Visit the WBS Penguins page at citizensvoice.com for Penguins stories, photos and more.